What I do within L.E.A.D. was hard for me to articulate until I met a gentleman named Dez Thornton. Dez gave me a visual story to tell that vividly brings to life what I do.

Imagine a crocodile infested river. On one side you have zebra who are trying to cross to get to the food that’s on the other side. As the zebra

enter the water, some will make it across without incident; others will inevitably get caught and become entangled within the crocs’ jaws. Some will die, some will manage to break free yet with many scars. Some of those scars will never heal.The zebra represent black boys in the inner-city of Atlanta. The crocs represent three evils in life that are designed to destroy them: racism, prejudice and poverty. I’m not a spectator on the sideline of this struggle. I am in the river, in

a boat, waiting to rescue any young man that will grab hold of the baseball bat that I extend to them. If they choose to grab hold of my bat, I will pull them into my boat and take them across the river safely. I have survived this very same struggle, and as a survivor, it is my duty, my burden, my blessing to provide safe passage for others.